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Good evening,Some "road" info. When we visited Mapungupwe 26 - 27 Oct 2012, we left Pretoria at 1.00am and drove via Dendron, Vivo and Alldays and arrived at the gate on the Den Staat road at 5.40. The gate at the Main Camp only opens later, and this one stays open. Just be careful for the horrible road surface full of huge potholes after Alldays. We also encounter Eland, Blue Wildebeest, Impalas, Warties and lots of Baboons on the way (also after we left Alldays).

We had to buy Petrol at Vivo, since the Petrol pumps in Alldays are not open all the time and we were too early for them.

Drive safely.

Last edited by Vlakvarkvrou on Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Vlakvarkvrou wrote:Good evening,Some "road" info. When we visited Mapungupwe 26 - 27 Nov 2012, we left Pretoria at 1.00am and drove via Dendron, Vivo and Alldays and arrived at the gate on the Den Staat road at 5.40. The gate at the Main Camp only opens later, and this one stays open. Just be careful for the horrible road surface full of huge potholes after Alldays. We also encounter Eland, Blue Wildebeest, Impalas, Warties and lots of Baboons on the way (also after we left Alldays).

We had to buy Petrol at Vivo, since the Petrol pumps in Alldays are not open all the time and we were too early for them.

Drive safely.

Hi Vlakvarkvrou,

Thanks for your road advice. Previous post did not mentioned that the road was in bad condition. Just wonder if it deterioted that fast or are others not bothered by a gravel road with potholes and few patches of tar.

Bushbarmy wrote:I have just returned from Mapungubwe, unfortuantely I was disturbed by a few things. There were a lot of shots being fired in the western part, and not immediately after each other so that I could assume it was smugglers coming throught the limpopo being chased off by park personnel. The shots were at times half an hour apart, which to me indicates poaching and not hitting the target. A total of 7 shots within 3 hours. When park personnel are questioned the reply is "oh we heard it and we are investigating". Well hello, its the next day, the guys with the guns are LONG GONE!!!!

Sorry I know this is a old thread just wondering from where you here the shot coming? Were they in the western part itself east of the western part or west of the eastern part .

Bushbarmy:The tree rehabilitation and reintroduction has gone for a ball of chalk, this area is fenced with electric fence, but somehow the ellies during October 2011 broke in and to date nothing has been done to get them out of this area or fix the fencing. The damage is to say the least disheartening. There seems not to be one tree that is not damged and split and broken in half. I wonder what National Geographic would have to say about this, as they funded this project??

This post was also made in July last year and as yet no response. I think there are many people who would like to know what the current ecological management plan is for Mapungubwe. Last time I did research, the park's elephant management plan referred to the fences to keep the ellies out of at least some areas. Has this plan now been dropped due to lack of funds or what is the situation?

I don't know if it's been dropped but I can tell you it doesn't really work. The ellies break the fence and just walk in if the electricity is not on and if it is it just "irates" (read urinate) them off and then they break it and walk right in. I have seen ellies inside the "no elephant zone" with all the fences intact aswell.

I guess this is a regional problem rather than a Mapungubwe-only problem. There are high numbers of elephant coming from the Tuli area into Mapungubwe and their impact is concentrated along the river due to their habitats away from the river getting smaller and smaller, mainly as a result of farming developments. I don't know if there really is a simple solution for this...The problem is that the riverine habitat along the Limpopo has developed over many centuries without high elephant numbers. Now this habitat is under severe pressure due to frequent droughts (notwithstanding the latest floods), mining and high numbers of elephant.It would be a tradegy to loose these unique habitats due to all these factors and I would hope that Sanparks have some kind of management plan to salvage the situation. It would be nice if we can get some official responses?

We are visiting Mapungubwe for the first time from 8 to 12 May 2013.We are first doing a trip through the Kruger and we are planning to exit Kruger at Pafuri gate, stop at the big baobab at Sagole, drive through Mussina and then enter Mapungubwe. We will be camping at the Mazhou camping site.

Could someone please assist with the following:- Have the roads (bridges) between Pafuri and Mapungubwe been fixed yet after the floods?- Are there any roads in the parks that aren't open?- What about view points, the tree top walk (?), and the heritage site?- And as first-time-Mapungubwe-visitors, what else do we need to know?

The road between Musina and Mapungubwe is still closed but there is a bypass which takes longer. The park is practically operational with most roads working, but i know the tree top is closed but you can go to the confluence and the museum.